Page 40 - MetalForming May 2012

GR Spring & Stamping holds on to its people. The 2011 Preci- sion Metalforming Associa- tion Benchmarking Report has the proof. It lists GRS&S as Best in Class for turnover, at 40 percent below the industry average, dropping from an already exceptionally low 10 percent turnover in 2009 to 7 percent in 2011. The metalformer also boasts Best in Class designations for setup time, machine utilization and sales per employee. So it should be no wonder that GRS&S also snagged a Best in Class for training. In fact, the com- pany has earned industry awards based on the number of hours spent on training, and also has won sever- al national awards for associate train- ing and education.
Training and improvement pro- grams, combined with a successful market shift, mean bright days for this Western Michigan metalformer How bright? Since FY2009, when sales dropped by 26 percent in the midst of a general manufacturing freefall, GRS&S rebounded with annual sales increases averaging 29 percent. The growth continues with the company launching five major product families in FY2012, totaling 330 parts with many slated for hybrid
and battery-powered vehicles. More than 90 percent of the com- pany’s 450 local employees partake of its World Class Idea program, which invites suggestions on improvements in each employee’s sphere of work. These reasons and more are why, in a confidential survey, 91 percent of GRS&S employees gave the company a high degree of trust. Thus it’s no wonder why GRS&S is named a Hitachi Foundation Pioneer Award
winner.
“Workforce development has
changed drastically from the late- 1970s, when business owners were afraid to provide educational pro- gramming for their associates because many worried that associ- ates would leave and the company would lose out,” says Jim Zawacki, GRS&S chairman. “We launched associate-development programs in the mid-1980s when we realized we had to provide more growth oppor- tunities for associates if we wanted them to stay. By elevating our asso- ciates through workforce develop- ment, GRS&S was able to develop many new and difficult processes, which helped the company grow from 50 associates 20 years ago to the several hundred we have today.”
The growth in employment at GRS&S has been dramatic, as these recent numbers show:
Pioneer Metalformers
Invest in Workforce Development
Case Study:
GR Spring
& Stamping
Grand Rapids, MI
BY LOUIS A. KREN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Year
Number of Employees
2005
232
2006
246
2007
278
2008
295
2009
312
2012
450
New Direction Pays Off
GRS&S primarily produces stamp- ings and related assemblies using transfer and progressive dies in press- es to capacities of 1000 tons. With 99.5 percent of business serving the automotive market, GRS&S products feed OEMs and Tier One suppliers.
In the mid-1990s, the company decided to focus on larger value-added parts and sought to develop relation- ships with Japanese automotive com- panies. With the product shift in full force, the last decade has seen GRS&S triple its sales to $100 million, with several years running of 25-percent growth. The explosive growth has net- ted more than 300 new employees in just the past 30 months, according to company officials.
MetalForming/May 2012 www.metalformingmagazine.com